One year MBA program and no clear career goals!!!

Hi Ryhme,

I am an MBA in marketing from one of the top 10 colleges of India and have 6 years of work experience.

I did industrial sales for 1 year, and working in the biggest private bank of the country for 4 years. out of which first 2.5 years were in retail (marketing) and rest 1.5 years in Corporate banking (Finance)

At present I am working with the largest bank of Oman (middle east), my first international assignment and looking after corporate banking.

I learned finance while working in Bank and now want to change my career to IB.

Suggest me whether I should go for 1 year MBA-finance or 2 year MBA-finance.

regards,

Amardeep

European one-year MBAs can help you switch into most industries. However, IB continues to be tough. In order to get into IB out of Insead you either a) need to take an internship for the summer after graduation and hope they offer you a job after a few months, or b) enroll in January so that the summer internship takes place during your studies. In the US its even tougher because they hiring process for MBAs has become so standardized.

Unless you are extrememly tenacious, the same funadmental rule generally applies to part-time/evening MBAs.

Hope you will find this useful:

https://www.gmatclub.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=13203

Thanks a lot guys... this information will go long way with me.

regards,

Amardeep

What about getting into MC or industry with a European one-year?

Ok. Hell yeah and may be's are catching up with Hell no's. I would like to hear views of everyone that participated, esp. the hell yeah's and the may be's.

Anyone for talks?

I've heard it's possible to career switch with no internship. But you gotta work your butt off, be charming, and network like a mutha.

That is what I have heard too...Like Dukes mentioned, it is possible to switch careers through the one year European programs.

given you have a business undergradm why cant you do the 1 yr MBA, then do an internship after graduation and THEN apply for a full time gig...

no?

I voted "maybe", because if you are leaning towards one career field more than the others, then I think a 1-year could be doable. I think it depends on each person and that person's ability to absorb the material plus network and job-hunt. Also, there are top 1-year MBAs and not so top 1-year MBAs. However, any major doubts about what you want to do, and I would stay away from a 1-year MBA.

But, here's my story in case anyone can glean some value from it:

I wrestled with 1 year vs. 2 year, US vs. Europe, because I am a career-switcher with no business/finance ugrad/grad degree or finance-related work experience. I live in Europe and come from a military background with 5 years experience as an IT officer, and I am eager to do almost any job outside of the military.

I recently decided to attend a 1-year MBA program in Europe starting this September (St. Gallen in Switzerland). Basically, I want to switch careers into financial services/banking and work in Switzerland/Germany post-MBA. Another consideration was the opportunity costs of a 1-year MBA are much less than a 2-year MBA. The value becomes significant when the school has a strong regional and/or global brand. With St. Gallen, I will be able to do an internship, but I will not have the extra time to network and job hunt as the 2-year MBAers will. Also, I will not have the extra time to reconsider other career options in case I change my mind during the program/internship. This is a major drawback of a 1-year MBA, but I think my tenacity and commitment to my goals, whether they change or not, will allow me to gain future employment in the business world (my basic goal), in a job I enjoy (or think I will enjoy), and earn a competitive salary. The major, major wild card is the overall state of the global economy, which may force me and many other MBAs to take jobs that they were not necessarily so keen on doing pre-MBA. One other drawback of the 1-year MBA is the obvious fewer amount of electives/specialization one can do. I intend to mitigate this shortfall with spending extra time in the library on weekends reading material not covered in classes.

I don't think this would be possible. Virtually all of the bigger firms are very rigid in their hiring cycles. They hire full-time associates in the fall to start the following summer. So, the scenario suggested above isn't possible unless you're willing to sit out for a year (if it is possible at all). By doing this, you're really throwing yourself outside the regular recruiting cycle.

I wanted to mention that one of the biggest advantages of being in business school, especially the top schools, is that you're schooling cycle coincides perfectly with firm recruiting cycles (by design, of course). From a job search standpoint, the biggest advantage you will have is that hundreds of firms will be coming to campus ready to hand out job offers for positions at the exact level you are at. I think it's crazy to purposefully throw yourself outside this regular recruiting cycle. You'd be giving up one of the biggest advantages of attending business school.

ahh yeah i didnt factor in recruiting cycles, good point


I think a 1 yr MBA is the way to go if you have 2 things, undergrad in buisness and any type of business WE...even with just vague goals, you should still be able to figure out exactly what you want to do as you meet ppl from different job types as well as taking different courses...

I would be curious to know if there are many people that head into Bschool with a goal of getting job X post MBA and come out with a goal of a wanting job Y after the MBA...i think that is a common occurance?


2 year seems better fo the folks making a comeplete career change, ie engineering to business etc etc...

the only 1 year program I've heard that consistently allows students to switch careers is INSEAD...and that's ONLY for switching into consulting....

if you want to go for a better career then go for regular 2 year MBA programs....

If you look at the employment report at insead for example you can see that a good portion of the students hired by top firms are going back to the firm and new hires make the rest.

I think a career switch would be difficult if you have no background in the field but breaking into MBB for example from the right 1 year mba is doable from Insead but not many other 1 year institutions imo.